A food blog from everywhere!

Thoughts about food blogs

Today, I’m deciding to take a break and reflect a bit about food blogs and why I’m bothered joining the fray.

This evening I watch some show from a random pirated Chinese DVD about food bloggers. They went around and interviewed some of the most well-known names in food-blog cyberspace, including David Lebovitz, Chez Pim, and Cha Xiu Bao. Apart from it being interesting giving voices to these names and faces that I’ve seen for so long, it also got me thinking about how much work these top-end bloggers put into this singular hobby. Taking notes, photographing, and actually analyzing the flavours and textures and combinational intricacies of their meals. And doing it all in an engaging, relate-able, humourous manner as well. As for me, I sometimes don’t really know exactly where I want to go with this blog.

I think I first started this blog as a way to grow out of the comment section on other food blogs, to voice my own ideas and to write about my own meals. Because I was living in Guangzhou at the time, there was a wealth of little-known food-related fodder to blog about. Like the breakfast culture in southern Chinese cities, vegetable markets, and sooo many more interesting things that I really never got around to sharing. But time and, more importantly, motivation became an obstacle.

I wonder often who bloggers write for, whether they write with an audience in mind. I bet the big name ones do, but for underdogs like me, well, I really don’t know. Sometimes I write for myself, just treating the blog as an opportunity to put down my experiences. Almost like a diary, really. But sometimes, though, I’m really not in the mood to write but I still feel the obligation to write, as if someone out there expects a new post and I mustn’t fail them. Most of the time, though, when that hits me I end up being lazy and reasoning that since my readership is so low, there’s no harm in skipping a couple of days. (Believe it or not, I actually planned to post at least once a week initially! Uh uh, didn’t happen AT ALL). Then a “couple of days” turn to weeks which turn to months and then, voila, I have a near-dead blog. I actually feel pretty guilty about not writing the whole time, but the lack of readership just provides justification to laze off…

Fellow bloggers, if any of you have faced this problem before, any advice to give an underling?

Another note: One major aspect that differs between most food bloggers and myself is that I’m pretty self-conscious about my food craze. I do not go around advertising the site (partly because the name’s sorta embarrassing. “Gastronomic Adventurer”? Reminds me of…I don’t know, Star Trek or something extraterrestrial. So if anyone can think of a better title to supplant mine I’d really appreciate it), and only mention it in the slightest passing to even my closest friends. I think it’s partly because I’m pretty aware of the negative view that some people have of food bloggers as people who go out to criticize without having any credentials. I’ve met people who view this very strongly, and it intimidates me. As a person I hate being on the wrong side of the line, and so I keep low with my blogging to avoid “playing with fire.”

As for foodblog-haters, I do see what they mean. I mean, bloggers aren’t like restaurant critics who I guess actually know what they are doing. But then again, eating is all about personal taste, and nobody needs prerequisites to express their preferences. I think that as long as bloggers don’t go around haranguing others to match with their preferences or diss people for their choices, there’s nothing wrong with blogging. And that’s the only wimpy argument that I’m offering to justify myself. =)

So why am I getting all deep and reflective all of a sudden? Just to figure things out, I guess. I remember the one blog that really influenced me to start my own was Robyn’s The Girl Who Ate Everything. I just love love love Robyn’s humourous style, and her entertaining rants about food. And especially in the earlier entries, you can sense that despite the humourous gloss that she drizzled over her words the things she wrote about were pretty…heartfelt. And for me, relate-able as well. Yeah, someday I really need to send Robyn a note congratulating her on her awesome blog, although I bet she gets loads of fanmail that I’ll just be one more on the pile.